Catholic priest arrested over embezzling top hospital

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Franco Decaminada, second right, after questioning by policeAndrew Medichini/AP

Philip Willan

Published at 12:01AM, April 5 2013

Police yesterday arrested a Roman Catholic priest accused of embezzling about €14 million (£12 million) as director of one of Rome’s leading hospitals, in an early indication of the reformist challenges awaiting Pope Francis.

Father Franco Decaminada is suspected of misusing the coffers of the Italian Dermatological Institute (IDI) together with two accomplices, reducing the hospital to bankruptcy and leaving staff without pay for the past seven months.

IDI is one of three hospitals owned by the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception religious order, whose disastrous administration has accumulated debts of €600 million and placed the jobs of 1,500 hospital